21-year-old man held for stabbing school girl to death for refusing to accept his love

A 21-year-old man was arrested for allegedly stabbing a Class 12 girl to death in broad daylight while she was on her way to school here on Wednesday, police said.

The girl had reportedly rejected the man's love proposal, they said.

The victim lived with her family in Cherankottai near the island town.

Police said Muniyaraj, a resident of the same area, had been allegedly stalking the schoolgirl for days and pressing her to accept his love despite repeated refusals.

The girl's father, Mariyappan, a fisherman, had recently confronted the youth and warned him against troubling her, according to police and local reports.

Enraged by her continued rejection and the warning from her family, the man allegedly decided to attack her when she was heading to school on Wednesday morning, officers said.

The accused confronted the girl on a public road before allegedly stabbing her multiple times with a knife, causing grievous injuries, police said.

The teenager collapsed at the spot and succumbed to her injuries before any medical help could reach, a preliminary inquiry has revealed.

Passersby who witnessed the attack alerted police, following which personnel from Port police station rushed to the scene and recovered the body, officials said.

The body was sent to a government hospital for post-mortem, and a case of murder has been registered, they added.

After the assault, the accused fled the spot, but was tracked down by a special police team, officers said.

He has been taken into custody for interrogation, and further investigation is on, police said, adding that appropriate sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita have been invoked.